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LS LIFE
14
March 2016
A jab good for you
L
IKE most children, Tommy and Tammy
both hate having doctors and nurses
stick needles into them! They find it very
painful, even if they get sweets afterwards.
Today in school, some nurses have come to give
shots even when they are both not ill!
Why? Even looking at the needle makes
them want to cry.
Tommy and Tammy learn that even
healthy children have to have injections
sometimes. It is called a vaccine. Their
purpose is to prevent us from getting ill.
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Editor's Note
Hi! When you were young, your parents had to
do everything for you, such as feed you. But when you get
older, you do these things yourself. If, for example, you find
tying your shoelaces hard, then you keep practising until you
get it right. You can always ask your parents to help you, but in
the end you must do it yourself. Just imagine
if you are 10 years old and are still asking your
parents to brush your teeth. Actually, at my school,
many kids got their mummies to cut their toenails!
One girl did not know how to put her trousers on
so she called the police for help. Read about it
on G06. Elsewhere in Goodies, we introduce the
Sai Kung area, which is called the ‘back garden of
Simon
Hong Kong’. Find out why on G08.
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Cover Feature
G02
Monday 14 March 2016
Siu fung
What is a vaccine?
A VACCINE is a substance that
protects the body from getting a
Can vaccines protect
us from all diseases?
disease. The substance is similar to
UNFORTUNATELY not. First,
the thing that causes the disease,
vaccines can only protect us
but much weaker. When the body
from infectious diseases,
receives the substance through a
which are spread by germs.
vaccine shot, it will produce suitable
For diseases not caused by germs,
antibodies, which are used to fight
like high blood pressure or diabetes
off the disease. This way, the
body will already be protected
against the real disease if it
(糖尿病), there are no vaccines at
all. And even for infectious
diseases, most of them
tries to attack us.
cannot be protected
by vaccines at the
moment.
What are germs?
GERMS are very small living things
that cause infection and diseases. They
are usually one of three kinds: bacteria
(細菌), viruses (病毒) and fungi (真菌). You may
be too young to know the difference, but let
me tell you some of the diseases caused
by them. Cholera (霍亂), tetanus (破傷
When do children have
to get vaccine shots?
PRIMARY pupils have to get shots
in Primary One and Primary Six.
風) and tuberculosis (肺癆) are caused
They protect you from many
by bacteria. Influenza (流感), dengue
diseases. One of the vaccines is
fever (登革熱) and hepatitis B (乙型肝
called MMRV, which helps you to
炎) are caused by viruses. Many skin
problems are caused by fungi.
fight measles (麻疹), mumps (痄
腮), rubella (德國麻疹) and
varicella (水痘).
G
History of vaccines
THE first vaccines were probably invented by the Chinese as early as the Jin Dynasty (晉朝) in the fourth
century, when doctors would use the brain of a dog suffering from rabies (瘋狗症) and apply it on the
wounds of a person who was bitten by a dog with the disease.
The first modern, needle-based vaccine was invented by the English doctor Edward Jenner (詹納) in
1796. It treated smallpox (天花). The second vaccine was invented almost a hundred years later. It was a
cholera vaccine in 1879. Since then, over 30 vaccines against common diseases have been made.
Vocabulary
vaccine (n) 疫苗
antibody (n) 抗體
infectious disease (n phr) 傳染病
germ (n) 微生物
It only hurts once, but
now we are safe from
illness with the vaccine!
shot (n) 注射
apply (v) 塗敷
Challenge